Association Tells NTSB Regulators, Airlines Must Not Allow
Cutting Costs At Price Of Safety
In comments made before the NTSB Wednesday, ALPA told the board
that some code-sharing arrangements create economic pressures that
force airlines to cut costs and potentially compromise safety.
“Code sharing is neither inherently safe nor unsafe,
it’s simply a business practice,” said Capt. John
Prater, ALPA’s president, following the first day of the
NTSB’s Airline Code-Sharing Arrangements and Their Role in
Aviation Safety Symposium. “The complexity and variety of
code-share arrangements in force today make it impossible to
characterize the practice itself. Factors such as a company’s
commitment to safety, corporate culture, and a broad range of
operational issues determine whether code sharing leads to
potentially unsafe practices or not.”
“It’s clear that the airlines present at the NTSB
today are putting in place safety standards that are much higher
than the regulated minimums,” said Capt. Paul Rice,
ALPA’s first vice-president following the symposium.
“While we applaud these industry leaders, we know that not
all airlines are setting their standards above those required by
regulations. Setting and enforcing stronger regulatory standards
remain the only certain ways to enhance safety in the air
transportation system.”
(L-R) Capt. John Prater, ALPA President; John Meenan, CEO,
ATA; Roger Cohen, President, Regional Airline
Association
In his presentation, Prater called on the industry to mine the
best practices that currently exist as a result of airlines working
together with labor groups and other stakeholders to ensure the
highest standards of safety in code-share agreements.
In addition, the Association called on regulators to continue
work to discover and codify the general types of safety risks that
typically emerge in these arrangements, so that gaps can be
identified and both current and new code-share participants can
address them.
“If an economic practice leads to pilots being pressured
to cut corners or to curtailing proven safety programs,”
Prater continued, “the regulator and the airline need to take
a hard look at the airline’s practices and work with pilots
and other stakeholders to be certain the airline is operating to
the high level of safety that the traveling public expects and
deserves.”
ALPA also commended the NTSB’s ongoing activities to draw
attention to pressing aviation safety issues including pilot
fatigue and pilot professionalism as well as the factors flagged by
NTSB’s investigations such as pilot screening, hiring, and
training and the relationships between mainline and partner
airlines.
“The airline industry in North America is among the most
competitive in the world,” concluded Prater. “We know
that creating and enforcing safety regulations, which operators
must uphold and regulators must enforce, is absolutely critical to
ensuring that economic competitiveness doesn’t compromise
safety.”